


Glitter Liner Arrows

by HenryTheHAP



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, M/M, Soul Bond, Wrist Names, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 20:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16456856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryTheHAP/pseuds/HenryTheHAP
Summary: Wrist names.That was what Shadowhunters aptly called the names that sometimes appeared on the thin skin on the inside of a Nephilim's wrist on their eighteenth birthday. The name of their other halves. Soul mates, mundanes called it. Heart Bonded was what it was called among the Nephilim.It was sacred amongst them, and to have one was considered the greatest gift one could ever receive. It came above everything else.Alec has prayed to Raziel to grace him with the gift of having a Named ever since he'd realised his love for hisparabatai.





	Glitter Liner Arrows

Soul Marks

 

*~ _"Will you be my *parabatai*, Alec?"_

~ _"Of course," Alec smiled_.~*

\-------------

Wrist names.

That was what Shadowhunters aptly called the names that sometimes appeared on the thin skin on the inside of a Nephilim's wrist on their eighteenth birthday. The name of their other halves. Soul mates, mundanes called it. Heart Bonded was what it was called among the Nephilim.

It was sacred amongst them, and to have one was considered the greatest gift one could ever receive. It came above everything else.

Alec had looked forward to this day for years. He'd been hopelessly in love with Jace for as long as he could remember. When Jace had asked him to be his _parabatai_ , Alec had accepted, not just because he wanted to be the blond's _parabatai_ , but because he hoped, desperately hoped, that it would help him shake his feelings for his best friend and shield brother. When it hadn't, this would have been his last opportunity to definitely, unquestionably, fall out of love the morning he woke up and saw a name written in calligraphy about a third of an inch high and slightly over his hand. If he was blessed with that highest honour of a name, he, like all those before him, would instantly lose all romantic love he'd ever felt for anyone, in this case Jace, like it had never existed.

Hadn't it been disproven that staying up all night would let him see the name appear, Alec didn't even attempt it. Instead, Alec had gone to sleep the second he got the opportunity. He worried he'd be unable to, because he was so worked up about how he could finally be free of the unrequited love he'd suffered keeping a secret for seemingly forever, and even managed to make forbidden.

When his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light faster than he'd ever managed before. According to previous records, the sudden exhaustion was a normal reaction others had experienced the night their Heart Bonded's name wrote itself across their wrist. Of course, asleep, Alec wasn't aware of that first, telling sign.

6 AM Alec woke with a start. A rare, genuine smile split his face as he felt a light ache on the left wrist, which he had tucked under his pillow. He thanked the Angel for blessing him. Sitting up, he turned his wrist to see what was written there. The name he had written on his wrist was one that had never occurred to him would be there.

Jace Wayland.

It felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He felt tears well up in his eyes, and for the first time in years he let himself cry. It felt like he was there forever, sobbing, until there was a hammering on the door and the last person he wanted to see burst in with a huge smile.

"Did you get one? Did you get a Wrist Name? Lemme see!" He bounced down onto the bed, grabbing for Alec's wrist.

Alec had hidden his wrist the second Jace had come in. He stared at the ground. "No."

It was then Jace took in his _parabatai's_ face. His smile dropped as he saw the red, puffy eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and clenched jaw. "Oh." He didn't say anything more, for which Alec was grateful. Instead, he went into their shared bathroom and wetted a cloth. Alec didn't have the energy to fight as the blond firmly grabbed his chin, turning Alec to face him and wiped his face clean. They sat there for a while in silence, shoulder to shoulder. Alec could feel Jace's arm against his, bare skin against bare skin.

When Alec managed to accept that he had to face the rest of the Institute, he stood up, keeping his wrist hidden. He got one of his broad leather wristbands, simple and tied with a leather cord that weaved down the length of the opening to keep it closed. It covered the Wrist Name completely.

Jace watched him silently as he got ready for the day. He knew the blond pitied him. Alec pitied them both. Roughly two years from now Jace would wake up to find Alec's name on his wrist. Straight as an arrow, Jace would be told that the person he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with was a man, Alec, a person he saw only as his friend and brother. Alec knew Jace would fall in love with him against his will. Even those in the past who had been documented to not be able to stand each other, and had fought the bond, had had to admit defeat. Alec gave a bitter smile. Defeat. As bullheaded as Jace could be, there was no way of getting away from their fate.

When he was ready, Jace joined him at the door, showing his support. Alec took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. At least the tell-tale signs of crying had mostly left his face. "Well, this'll suck," he murmured.

Jace gave a hollow laugh.

As they walked down the hallway, Alec saw people's eyes snap to his wrist. It was customary. They'd look for a dark mark along the person's wrist, and know whether to congratulate the person on their birthday, or if there were more celebrations in order. 

Alec accepted all the birthday wishes with his usual lack of enthusiasm. A birthday was just another day. Nothing special. Had he been able to show the name adorning his wrist with pride, he'd be smiling so brightly he'd probably scare people used to his usual stoic expression. Now he knew he probably looked ready to punch something. Or someone. Even as they congratulated him, people could see his temper and gave him a wide birth. The only persons who dared get close to him were his sister and, ironically, the blond who was causing him his misery. His sister didn't hesitate in giving him a bright smile and a hug, even though he saw where her eyes had discreetly gone, and how her smile wasn't completely real. He accepted the hug anyway, closing his eyes and taking comfort in her support. "Thank you," he murmured gratefully, only loudly enough for her to hear. He held her a moment longer than he usually would have, and Izzy was all too happy to hold him as much as he needed. She pulled back when he did.

"I have a mission for us."

Five minutes later, after hearing all the details and knowing Izzy was only trying to distract him with a frankly ludicrous idea for a mission, Alec spoke again.

"I don't approve of this mission." He knew Jace was miming him just out of his line of sight, based on the snicker his sister was trying to hold back. "Fine, I'll get the approval."

Izzy gave up holding back a laugh when he turned around, and he glared at his _parabatai's_ innocent face.

"What?"

Alec ignored him.

 

\----------------

 

Almost two years later, Alec had still never shown his wrist. He kept it covered at all times. Leather cuffs had become a standard, and he'd taken to wearing archer braces and archer gloves with broad fasteners on the wrist.

Nobody ever asked or commented. They assumed it was his way of trying to mask his naked, unmarked wrist. They figured he'd never gotten over not having a Name. The opposite of the truth. Since the day he'd seen his _parabatai_ name, he'd wished as hard for it to disappear or never have existed, as much as he'd prayed to have one in the first place. He'd tried _iratze's_ over a hundred times, in vain, hoping he could heal away the curse he bore. They never worked, and he hadn't really expected them to.

Every now and then he'd see Jace stare at his wrist with an unreadable expression. The blond would see Alec watching him in question, and he'd look away sharply. It looked like he was in pain. Alec wondered if his _parabatai_ still felt sorry for him. If the blond only knew. In only a few months he'd direct those feelings towards himself. Alec counted down the days, dread filling his chest more and more for every day he mentally crossed off.

"Izzy, duck!"

Jace made sure their sister had listened before he turned to another demon. They'd been sent on a basic recon mission that had gone horribly awry. From the basic info they'd received on the beforehand, they hadn't expected anything they couldn't handle. Of course, that had turned out to be painfully wrong.

In their defense, Alec thought they were putting up a pretty good fight. They were going to come out on top. The last demon went down, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Jace gave a bright smile and was about to say something, when his eyes went wide. "Alec!"

Alec turned in time to kill the demon, but not before it had lashed out, knocking him to the floor hard.

 

\-------------------

 

Alec opened his eyes to find himself in his bed. Jace was sitting on a chair next to him, hunched forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers laced together. He looked tense as he stared at his own hands.

Alec brought his right hand to where his head had made contact with the concrete floor, and didn't even find a bruise. "If they sent me back here instead of to the medical wing, you don't need to look like I'm about to die."

Jace continued staring at his hands. "It took a couple of _iratze's_ to fix you up. I did them before I got you back here. They said you didn't need to stay in one of the beds as long as I watched over you. I know you hate it there." He clenched his jaw before continuing. His voice was tense. "The demon got your wrist. I needed to see if the cut was healing or if there was poison."

Alec felt dread shoot through him. He glanced down at his bare left wrist

"Don't worry. Nobody else knows. I'll cover my wrist, too, when the time comes." Alec couldn't tell if he was about to cry or yell or refuse to talk to him for days or weeks, or however long. "Your secret's safe."

Alec swallowed hard and sat up, crossing his legs and leaning his elbows of his knees, mimicking Jace's hunch as he stared at his lap. "So how pissed are you?"

Jace rubbed his hands over his face, suddenly looking exhausted. "I was fucking furious, then sad, but now I get it." His lips pursed for a second, as if he was holding back crying. Alec had never seen Jace even close to tears for a long time, if at all. "Must have sucked. Waking up to that. Good birthday present right there."

"It wasn't like that," Alec said, keeping his voice calm. He bit the insides of his cheeks.

"You were crying, Alec," Jace said, sounding defeated. "I think I know exactly what it was like."

"It was for you," Alec said in frustration. "I kept it a secret so you could have two more years of blissful ignorance."

"Blissful ignorance?" Jace snapped. "That wasn't your decision to make!"

"It's my mark!"

"It's my fucking name!" Jace stood up, making the chair screech against the floor. So much for not being angry, Alec mused.

"You'd have done the same," Alec said through gritted teeth, glaring up at him. "Admit it."

Jace's mouth pursed in that way it always did when he was really upset, like he didn't know what to do. He looked at the far wall, and now Alec could tell he was definitely holding back tears. There was misery and desperation in his eyes. "I wouldn't," he muttered.

"Don't lie," Alec said angrily.

"What, like you've been for the last two fucking years?" Jace's voice had started out calm, then risen for every word until he was yelling, glaring at Alec. He sniffed angrily, his eyes flickering away again, before turning to Alec and staring him down.

Alec yanked the sheets aside and stood up, ignoring his mostly naked state. He met Jace's glare with equally as much rage, shouting back. "I did it for you!"

"You did it for you, Alec!" Jace snarled, stepping closer. "This," he grabbed Alec's wrist hard and tugged it up to elbow level so they could both see it, "is about me, too!" He bared his teeth angrily. "Unless you didn't notice," he added sarcastically.

Alec yanked his arm back. "I did fucking notice! I kinda noticed that my very straight best friend's name, my _brother's_ name, decided to show up on my wrist! I wasn't about to burst your happy, straight little bubble two years earlier than I needed! I've had years, fucking _years_ to get over my sexuality. I've struggled through that shit longer than you could ever imagine! I wasn't going to put you through that before you had to!"

"WHO SAID I WAS STRAIGHT?"

Alec took a surprised step back, stumbling as the back of his legs hit the bed, forcing him to sit down. "What?"

"I had a right to know, Alec," Jace said in a low voice, all anger gone.

"That you're forced to spend the rest of your life with a guy you see as your brother?" Alec asked bitterly.

"I haven't seen you as my brother for a very long time," Jace muttered back, barely audible.

"What do you mean?" Alec asked curiously.

"I mean that morning, when I thought you didn't have a name, the only thing that kept me from completely breaking down was seeing you needed my support. I prayed. I prayed for this." He touched his name lightly with his fingertips. "It was the only thing that could fix my stupid fucking mistake." His voice was almost a whisper.

"Mistake?" Alec choked.

"I thought..." Jace stared at the mark. "I thought I could never have you the way I wanted. I wanted to make sure that we'd stay close no matter what. I wanted to be the most important person in your life always. So I asked you to be my _parabatai_."

"The way you wanted..." Alec breathed. "This." He turned his wrist enough that it was easily visible to both of them.

"Yeah."

"All those girls...?"

Jace shook his head sadly, keeping his head down. "So many stupid reasons."

"Sounds like you, definitely," Alec joked carefully, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Jace looked up at him sharply. "Not funny."

"A little bit," Alec said with a small smile.

"It really isn't," Jace said, pursing his lips and looking away.

"Okay, so it isn't," Alec murmured. "But now we're here."

"And I'm just supposed to get over the last two years like they were nothing? You have no fucking clue how shit this has been for me! You have no clue what I've done to try to get over you! How I've hurt myself emotionally to..." Jace yelled at first, but at his last sentence, his voice died away, looking at the floor next to Alec.

"You think I haven't been suffering?" Alec whispered furiously. "I had this!" He indicated his wrist.

"Yeah?" Jace said angrily, glaring up at him. "How many people have you fucked? How many _girls_? How many times have you screwed a stranger in a club or a back alley, drinking yourself stupid trying to forget?"

Alec stared at him sadly. "I didn't know."

"No, you were too busy being selfish!" Jace snapped.

"If I thought for a second you wanted this, I would have painted sparkly hearts and arrows on my wrist pointing towards it and waved it in your face!" Alec snapped back. "Stop insisting I was being selfish! I messed up with not telling you, and we've both been hurting because of it, but Jace, honestly, tell me you would have told me! If our situations were reversed, would you have told me?"

Jace punched him. It caught him by surprise, and he fell back on the bed, holding his jaw where there would definitely be a nasty bruise, as he looked at Jace in shock. "You're so fucking cold, Alec!" Rage filled Jace's face, and he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

"Izzy?" Alec asked, knocking on his sister's door.

His sister opened it a few seconds later, giving him a curious look when she saw the bruise. "What happened?"

"Can I come inside?"

Izzy opened the door wider and stepped to the side, letting him in. He sat down at the foot of her bed, rubbing his face before hunching over, placing his elbows on his knees. "I have a confession," he murmured. "And I need your help."

Izzy sat down next to him, on his right. "You can tell me anything, brother," she said carefully, worry in her voice.

Alec huffed out a sigh, gathering courage. He undid his wristband and showed Izzy the name written there.

There was a long silence as Izzy stared at his wrist. She snapped out of it after a while. "So that's the confession, I assume, and what's the help? How to tell him?"

"He already knows. That's the problem. He's really furious about it, because, well..." Alec stared at his Wrist Name. "He... Has feelings for me, apparently. And..." Alec flinched. "He did some things to try and get over them. I hurt him really badly, Izzy. I thought he was straight and I was protecting him."

"What things?" Izzy asked carefully.

"Slept around with a lot of girls. Guess he was trying to screw himself straight, I dunno. Maybe he slept with guys, too. I have no idea. But it messed him up really badly. I had no clue, and now he's so pissed off that, well..." He indicated his jaw.

Nodding understandingly, Izzy lifted her hand to hover right over his wrist. "Can I...?"

"You're my sister," Alec murmured in amusement, watching Izzy stroke her fingers delicately over Jace's name.

"You had no way of knowing, Alec. I had no idea Jace was anything less than content with his life. Fighting and fucking, and breaking rules pretty much sums up everything I would have used to describe Jace's favourite pastimes up until right now." Izzy said gently, still looking at the mark in fascination.

"Thanks, Izzy," Alec smiled at her. "Jace doesn't share that opinion. I need to try to do some damage control."

"Have an idea how to?"

"Got some glitter pens?"

Izzy gave Alec a confused look, smiling in amusement at the request.

 

\----------------------------

 

Alec stared down at his wrist. Jace had better appreciate this, angry or not. He got up from his desk chair, squaring his shoulders, taking a deep breath, and opened the door.

He made it halfway to the main room before someone noticed he wasn't wearing anything on his wrist, and stared at what was drawn there. Alec ignored him, continuing on to find the person who actually mattered. He found Jace slouched in a chair in the tactical room, looking sour. Alec marched past all the staring people, one after the other realising like a wave that he had a Wrist Name, though they couldn't read it. Those who weren't paying attention were nudged by their neighbours, and the whole room went silent as everybody paused, probably all wondering why he'd kept it a secret. Aiming resolutely for the displeased blond who was pointedly not looking at him, Alec shoved his wrist in his _parabatai's_ face.

At first Jace stubbornly refused to look, but some of what was there must have caught the corner of his eye, because heterochromatic eyes flickered to look at his own name. He raised an eyebrow, then met Alec's face. "Glitter arrows?"

"Told you," Alec murmured, still displaying his wrist where he's covered the area around his Wrist Name with Izzy's various coloured liquid glitter liners.

Jace stood up, giving a small smile and taking Alec's hand. "I'm still mad."

"I know," Alec replied. "We'll need to figure things out, but for right now..." He squeezed Jace's hand lightly.

Grinning, Jace placed his free hand on the back of Alec's head, tugging him down for a kiss, but seemed to change his mind right before it became obvious, and pulled Alec into a hug instead. "You've never kissed anyone," he murmured into Alec's ear. "That's all mine. No watching eyes."

Alec hummed softly, his arm around Jace's waist. "I'm all yours."

"Fuck," Jace muttered, "don't say that when I can't hide a fucking hard on!"

"I think we need to talk first," Alec replied in a low voice.

"Well, that effectively killed it," Jace replied grumpily.

"So, talk? Your room or mine?" Alec asked. "Ready to face the crowd?"

Jace chuckled, pulling away and keeping their interlocked hands together. "I've never cared about what people's opinions are, Alec. That's all you." He winked at Alec. "And I have no problem showing off that you're mine."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Right." He let Jace lead him along the path he'd created making his way to the blond. Jace eagerly walked ahead, pulling Alec along behind him. He ignored the completely silent room and all the staring people, grinning widely.

"My room?" Alec asked curiously when Jace aimed for his door.

"Yep," Jace said, shoving him in. "Your room is for serious talks and fighting, and my room's for fun." He winked at Alec.

"That's not fair," Alec grumbled. "And we should have gone to your room. I just said that to calm you down."

Jace turned to him, eyes sparkling. "Well, then my room it is."

Alec let himself be dragged to Jace's room, again being shoved inside. "Is this how it's going to be from now on? You dragging and pushing me around?"

"And making sure it's definitely worth it," Jace promised, waggling his eyebrows. "So about this not talking...?"

"No one's watching," Alec shrugged.

Jace pulled Alec down by the front of his shirt, kissing him firmly. Alec let him take the lead, not really completely sure what he was doing, and trusting Jace to know. His _parabatai_ easily managed to coax Alec into responding to him however he wanted, stroking a hand up Alec's side to make him gasp and open his mouth. He delved inside, mapping out the cavern he'd wanted to get to know intimately for several years. He groaned happily, running his hands over the taller teen's body like he'd wanted to for so long. Alec wasn't sure what to do with his hands, so he kept them by his side, feeling dumb.

Jace apparently wasn't on board with that. Taking Alec's hands in his, he directed them over his body until he felt Alec take over. "Fuck, yes," he murmured against Alec's lips, grinning and continuing the kiss.

They broke apart eventually, both of them breathing heavily. They kept their eyes closed, foreheads pressed together.

"So, talk?" Jace muttered.

"Talk," Alec affirmed. He groaned in frustration when Jace pulled away and started frogmarching him to the door. "You were serious about that?"

"Yup, I'm going to make sure every time I get you in here," Jace said, before opening the door, "you get an instant hard-on. I also want you to prefer staying here."

"My room is more hygienic," Alec argued. "And cleaner in general."

"Your room is more serious, as well, and has no condoms, I'm pretty sure," Jace said cheerfully, ignoring the people they were passing.

"Jace!"

Jace smiled innocently. "I'm right, though?"

Alec ignored him.

He opened the door to his room, and Jace meandered inside and flopped down on one side of the bed, and Alec joined him on his right so they lay side by side.

"So we're here," Jace mumbled.

"We're here," Alec agreed equally awkwardly.

"I know it's not your fault that I made the choices I did," Jace murmured.

"I get that you're angry I didn't say anything."

"I get that you didn't say anything."

"Good talk?"

"Great talk."

Alec sat up, getting ready to climb off the bed.

"Alec?"

Alec froze. He lay back down.

"I've had sex with a lot of people. We're talking middle to higher triple digits. You need to know that."

"I have no idea how you've even managed to do that in the time since I've known you started having sex. I'm part upset, part impressed. I'm not upset with you. Just the mess we're in."

"Okay."

"Have you had sex with men?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll know what to do."

"I was planning on doing you."

"Am I an object now?"

"Don't be a dick."

What happened to sex only being in your room?" Alec laughed when Jace moved to straddle him and lean in for a kiss.

"Fuck it. I want you now, and I'm not waiting another minute."


End file.
